


A Mind Far Afield

by AliuIce0814



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, Thor has a lot of feels, loki needs a time-out, the son of coul is a bamf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:52:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliuIce0814/pseuds/AliuIce0814
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor comes to several realizations very quickly before Loki ejects the trap from the Helicarrier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mind Far Afield

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the movie, obviously. I don't own any of this, also obviously, although I am wearing a really cool Avengers shirt right now.

Loki was escaping. Thor launched at him with a cry—and fell through his insubstantial form. The god gave another roar as the door to the cage slammed shut, trapping him within its supposedly impenetrable glass barrier.

Beyond the cage’s boundary, the real Loki shook his head incredulously. “Will you ever not fall for that?”

Once, Loki’s disbelief would have been followed by a fond roll of his eyes and the tiniest of smiles. Once, it all would have been a game, a child’s play of trickery. Now, Loki’s folly turned mischief into chaos. Banner, the mild-mannered doctor who reminded Thor so much of Erik Selvig, had transformed into a mindless monster that had only stopped his path of destruction when one of the Midgardians’ flying machines had shot fire at him to distract him. Thor growled at the thought that Loki had used the quiet scientist’s secret madness against him. Perhaps Father had done the same long ago, using Loki’s true parentage to force an uneasy truce with the Jotuns, but the Midgardians had no quarrel with Loki! Banner had done nothing to deserve this torment!

Thor slammed Mjölnir into the glass cage in a fit of frustration. He froze when the entire structure moved. Belatedly, Thor remembered one-eyed Fury’s words to Loki about the trap originally built for the Hulk. _“Scratch that glass…thirty-thousand feet down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant. Boot!”_

On the other side of the glass, Loki smiled wickedly. “The Midgardians think us immortal,” he said carelessly. Thor’s heart clenched as Loki reached for the lever that would release him into the abyss. _Surely he would not…But I let him fall from the Bifrost. Perhaps he sees this as revenge._ Thor knew the answer as Loki’s grin widened. “Shall we test that theory?”

Not so many hours ago, Thor had shaken Loki on the top of a hill and demanded, “You give up this poisonous dream. You come home!” He had thought that Loki’s madness lifted for a moment, giving Thor a glimpse of the lonely boy he loved so dearly. Then again, he had seen Banner somewhere behind the Hulk’s swirling green eyes, and the monster had still slammed him into a metal floor. Perhaps Loki had gone past madness to true evil.

Thor rejected the thought, even as Loki began to pull the lever. He deserved this punishment for letting his brother fall. Maybe this would sate Loki’s hunger for vengeance. Maybe now his brother would leave the Midgardians alone.

Suddenly, one of Loki’s men collapsed. Loki and Thor both turned, surprise, to face the determined man behind the deadly weapon. Thor felt a surge of both hope and fear. _Son of Coul!_

As usual, Agent did not smile, but something in his face held mischief akin to Loki’s more playful moods. He studied the bizarre weapon in his arms before admitting, “Even I don’t know what it does.”

Loki backed away warily. Thor’s hope grew. Perhaps…

…and then Coulson inhaled sharply as the tip of Loki’s staff cut him through.

Thor cried out. Coulson only looked mildly surprised as he crumpled to the ground, but Loki—Loki _smiled_ as he strode to the control panel and pulled the lever to release Thor to his fate. He _smiled_ as the valiant Son of Coul died.

Thor did not weep while he smashed his way out of the Hulk’s trap just in time to crash into the earth. He did not have the time consider anything but pure rage as he skidded to a halt in a field of flowers. His fury gave him strength just as Banner’s anger gave the Hulk his power. While he lay, stunned, in the grass, though, wetness slowly burned the corners of Thor’s eyes. _Son of Coul_ , he thought. _A brave man. A good man. He did you no wrong. You killed him in cold blood, Loki. You are truly a monster._

Thor rolled onto his knees there in the field where no mortal eyes could see him. He tugged at his own hair helplessly as he remembered the witty, curious boy who had once been his shadow. “You come home,” he begged the air where he knew Loki could not hear him. “Please, brother. Please.” He asked it of the field so he would never have to ask it again. He knew to ask it of Loki again would be futile. He was not his brother anymore. He was hardly a man, either. In his anger, Loki had become the very monster he feared.

Thor wept.

**Author's Note:**

> I've only seen the movie four times, so I don't quite have this scene memorized. I took a few liberties with the lines.  
> I'm only a little bit obsessed, I swear.  
> (Thor seriously thinks Phil's first name is Agent.)


End file.
